Presented in the session “Global Leadership in Dental Anthropological Research: A symposium in honor of G. Richard Scott." The Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System (ASUDAS) or Turner-Scott System revolutionized the use of dental morphology for reconstructing evolutionary processes in past populations. By providing globally-recognized data collection standards, the system has elevated the status of dental morphology to an indispensable line of evidence in biodistance research. The efficacy of morphological data rests upon foundational assumptions about underlying tooth crown biology; namely, that the traits are highly heritable and minimally sexually dimorphic. Scott and colleagues have also outlined best practices for the application of dental morphology to biodistance studies, most aimed at curtailing genetic redundancy in multivariate datasets (see Turner et al., 1991). Quantitative genetic approaches have the potential to validate these assumptions. Here, we present the first robust estimates of heritability and genetic correlation for ASUDAS crown characters. Data were collected from a casted sample of South Carolina Gullah individuals (N=469) and analyzed using maximum likelihood variance components analysis. While several postcanine traits yielded heritability estimates of 0.0, mean estimates across statistically significant models were moderate to high (anterior=0.34; postcanine=0.75). Results of covariate screening support the long-held assumption that ASUDAS traits are sexually monomorphic, with the exception of canine marginal/cingular ridge characters and certain molar accessory cusps. Additionally, patterns of heritability and genetic correlation groundtruth most prescribed biodistance practices: dichotomizing trait expression, collapsing bi-antimeric datasets, and prioritizing traits scored on key (sensu Scott et al., 2018) teeth. Notwithstanding, our results suggest that certain assumptions require reconsideration and underscore the importance of continued validation work in additional populations.

Presented in the session “Childbirth Rites in Mesoamerica."

Fire and smoke were fundamental ritual forces in Mesoamerican religious worldview. Found in varied contexts (funerary processing, animation ceremonies, and desecratory rituals), fire and smoke were applied to multiple media (human bodies, architecture, and ceramics). In the Postclassic (AD 950–1524) Maya lowlands, burning both processed honored ancestors’ remains and violated enemies’ remains. Ceramic incense burners with deity effigies were used to burn resins to communicate with supernaturals. Here we consider whether fire and smoke were applied in similar fashion to human bodies and censer effigies in the Petén lakes region of northern Guatemala during the Postclassic period. Specifically we document and compare (1) archaeological contexts in which human remains were burned (or have associations with burning), (2) archaeological contexts of ritual use of effigy censers, and (3) descriptions of ritual contexts involving the use of fire and smoke from codices and ethnohistoric and ethnographic accounts. Comparing human remains to representations of bodies suggests that both were subjected to similar ritual processes but that the former were particularly necessary under some political, and religious and calendrical circumstances.

Presented in the session "Cultural Meanings of Head Treatments in Mesoamerican and Andean Societies.” Over the past 10 years researchers in Mesoamerica have increasingly come to agree that cranial modification was a normal part of growing up in Maya society. One component of cranial modification appears to have been ritually sealing one or more of these animating essences in infants’ heads. Bodies in Mesoamerica were both permeable and partible and contained multiple animating essences associated with various aspects of personhood, animacy, and illness. Thus, one current question is identifying precisely what was being sealed in cranial modification. In this paper I review animating essences among the Maya to discuss which appear to have been the most likely candidates for sealing through cranial modification. The two most relevant essences are baah and ik’. Baah is a conflation of personhood and the head, could be interacted with by other individuals after corporeal death, and appropriated by enemies. Ik’ is breath soul and could exit the body from various orifices. Although baah is explicitly associated with the head among the Maya, here I argue that ik’ is at least as likely as baah to have been targeted for sealing through cranial modification.

No description available.

Presented in the session “Bioarchaeology and Forensic Case Studies of Sectarian Violence, Revolts, and Small-Scale Warfare.”

Presented in the session “Current research in Maya bioarchaeology."

Presented in the session “Bioarchaeological signatures of violence and aggression."

No description available.

No description available.